Landrum Denies Rumors of Another Ray's Hell-Burger

By
Tom Sietsema

Hey, Michael Landrum! Is it true you're opening another Ray's Hell-Burger and it's going to be in Adams Morgan?

"The Washington Business Journal is a bunch of doo-doo heads," the provocative restaurateur told me this afternoon, following publication of a false report in that paper today. "I'm content with what I have now, except for a good night's sleep and maybe a week off" from three eating establishments In Arlington and Silver Spring, he says.

The idea of a Landrum-inspired burger joint in the big city isn't totally unimaginable. His Arlington landlord oversees the vacated Ghana Café in Washington, purportedly Landrum's landing spot, according to the WBJ. But the restaurateur says the "declining streetscape" and lack of parking and security in Adams Morgan need to be addressed before he would consider such a project. "I'm not anywhere close to doing another deal," says Landrum.

Ray's Hell-Burger was envisioned as "a fun little side project that has taken over and consumed my life," in the wake of President Obama's lunch run to the eatery in May. The operation currently serves 6,000 hamburgers a week, and they're made as they've always been, says the proud owner: with hand-trimmed meat and without mechanical presses.